The Estevan Bruins and Weyburn Red Wings squared off in their first regular season games over the weekend, after playing four games against one another during the preseason.
The Bruins came out on the winning end of both games with a dominating win on Friday night in Weyburn and grinding out a close victory on Saturday at Affinity Place in Estevan.
FRIDAY – 7-0 Win in Weyburn
The first period was played very closely, with Weyburn earning a couple quality chances including two breakaways that were both thwarted by Bruins’ goaltender Boston Bilous who made his first start on Friday. Austin King-Cunningham would blast home his second of the season late in the opening period to give Estevan a 1-0 lead.
Then the dam burst open in the 2nd period as the Bruins scored five goals in only 7:34 of game time to explode for a 6-0 lead. Rookie forward Antoine St. Onge scored his first SJHL goal to get the party started and that would be followed with goals from Mason Strutt, another from St. Onge, and powerplay goals from Devan Harrison and Caleb Petrie. Weyburn’s starting goaltender Joseph Young would be pulled after the 4th goal by St. Onge for backup Cameron Beson.
Weyburn would earn a couple of powerplay’s, including an extended 5-on-3, but Bilous was there to turn them away at every opportunity. On the powerplay, King-Cunningham would blast home his second of the game to round out the scoring in a 7-0 victory. Bilous finished with 26 saves in the shutout win, while St. Onge led the scoring attack with a 4-point game (2G,2A).
SATURDAY – 3-1 Win in Estevan
The 1st period played out very similar to Friday night’s game, however this time it would stay scoreless after 20 minutes of play. The 2nd period would feature plenty more action both in terms of scoring and in fireworks.
Weyburn opened the scoring with a deflection past Bruins’ starter Emerik Demers early in the 2nd period, but then the Bruins’ quick-strike offence put the Bruins ahead shortly after. Tanner Mortenson tied the game at 1-1 just 43 seconds after Weyburn’s goal. Then Eddie Gallagher put home the rebound after a long, dominating shift to make it 2-1 just minutes later. The Bruins’ powerplay would stay hot as well with a point shot from Kade McMillen finding it’s way through a screen and past Joseph Young to make it 3-1 Bruins less than six minutes after Weyburn opened the scoring. Before the end of the period, Bruins’ forward Alex Von Sprecken and Weyburn’s Brock Wallace engaged in a long and rough fight to add some extra fire to the rivalry.
Late in the 3rd period, Mortenson would drop the gloves with Weyburn’s Liam Rutten after a scrum in front of the Bruins’ net. Neither team would be able to find the back of the net in the final frame and the Bruins would skate off with a 3-1 victory. Demers was stellar in net making 34 saves, earning his 3rd win of the year to his personal stats.
The Bruins (4-1-1) will now prepare to take on the Notre Dame Hounds (1-2-1) next week, hosting Notre Dame on Friday, November 27th in Estevan before travelling to Wilcox for the rematch on Monday, November 30th at 8:00pm.